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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27045616">always a day away</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayflies/pseuds/dayflies'>dayflies</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - High School, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Choi Beomgyu-Centric, Gen, Humor, M/M, Metafiction, Minor Huening Kai/Kang Taehyun, Swearing, based on drama mv, beomgyu hates everyone, beomgyu is straight up Not Vibing, like...a lot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:21:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,800</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27045616</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayflies/pseuds/dayflies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After a particularly dreadful history class, he turns towards Taehyun, meaning to tell him he’s an asshole.</p>
<p>Just to test out if he can. </p>
<p>But maybe he also means it a little bit, because the two of them had walked to school together with Kai, and the sidewalk was too small for three people, so Beomgyu had trailed behind, feeling awkward.</p>
<p>An upbeat, “D’you wanna go to my place today?” is what comes out instead of "You're an asshole, Taehyun" and Beomgyu wants to scream. Taehyun blinks owlishly, which only fuels Beomgyu’s desire to punch something.<br/><br/>[or; Beomgyu realizes he is a character in a fictional story - a side-character, at that. He does not take it well.]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Choi Beomgyu &amp; Kang Taehyun</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>49</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>always a day away</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hello!! i can't believe the cb is already coming up! this is heavily based on the lyrics and the mv for drama (and extra-ordinary you, the actual television drama) so consider this a last huzzah for the eternity era :')</p>
<p>all the boys are the same age in this, and they're classmates, also beomgyu is very angry and swears a lot, okay that should be it from me!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Beomgyu wakes up one morning, feeling as if the world has tilted.</p>
<p>Not quite dramatically turned on its axis, just slightly askew.</p>
<p><em>Huh, that’s weird,</em> he thinks, but shrugs it off. He’s probably just having an off day.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>He almost dozes off in history class. They’re doing group presentations on the Joseon Dynasty, and it is dry and incredibly boring. Beomgyu doesn’t think he has ever been this bored in his entire life, promptly ignoring the fact that he’d had the same thought just last Wednesday. Either way, half-listening to Choi Soobin drone off the different religions that were prevalent during the time in his driest, most monotone voice, is boring. His group member, Huening Kai, is a little more enthusiastic as he rattles off the different characteristics of each belief. Beomgyu turns his head to stare out the window.</p>
<p>
  <em>Look at them.</em>
</p>
<p>He looks at them. They’d been allowed to choose their own group for this presentation, so everyone had immediately gone in a beeline for their own closest friends in class. The four of them had been no exception: Choi Soobin, the quiet, intelligent bookworm, Huening Kai, his happy-go-lucky sidekick (Beomgyu vaguely recalls someone calling them “gums”), and the other two group members, Kang Taehyun, captain of the football team, and Choi Yeonjun, top student in their entire year and member of the student faculty.</p>
<p><em>A real try-hard,</em> Beomgyu’s brain supplies helpfully, mouth curling just the tiniest bit.</p>
<p>He looks back out the window, tuning out Huening Kai’s voice.</p>
<p>
  <em>Look at them.</em>
</p>
<p>He looks at them, in all their glory. They’re popular, well-liked by all their classmates, and not for no reason either. Beomgyu had never seen them be anything other than genuine and nice.</p>
<p>Kai stumbles over a sentence and Yeonjun coughs, while Soobin and Taehyun hide their smiles behind their hands.</p>
<p>Beomgyu wants in.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>He ditches his own friends in P.E. class because he wants to play basketball.</p>
<p>“Bullshit, you hate basketball,” Ryujin says, narrowing her eyes.</p>
<p>“I hate every ball game,” he grumbles. It was an oddly loose P.E. class. Their teacher, who just so happened to be the football team's trainer, had simply told them to “do whatever the hell they wanted to do” with a wave of his hand - and he was usually always pretty adamant about shoving his football agenda down the students’ throats.</p>
<p>“Just felt like practicing. I might fail this class,” Beomgyu attempts to explain.</p>
<p>It isn’t a total lie. He is clinging on to the lower end of passing grades, dangling miles above the ground from one hand.</p>
<p>“Practice with us then. We can play basketball instead of football.” Jeongin says, while holding a football under his arm.</p>
<p>Distantly Huening Kai cheers from the basketball court after landing the ball in the hoop.</p>
<p>Beomgyu shrugs wordlessly. He isn’t sure where this sudden urge to worm his way into Choi Yeonjun’s group had come from, but he knows he must play basketball with them, specifically.</p>
<p>“It’s fine, you two just go ahead. See you at lunch.” he says, ignoring their confused protests, and cutting straight for the basketball court where Yeonjun, Soobin, Taehyun and Kai are dribbling a ball around. He settles into a bench, watching for a while as they run back and forth on the court, the sound of sneakers hitting the ground accompanied by the rhythmic dunk of the ball.</p>
<p>Taehyun steals the ball from Soobin, dribles, weaves around Kai, passes it to Yeonjun who throws it in a big arch, it flies towards the hoop, but is blocked by Soobin’s long arms, and so on and so forth.</p>
<p>He zones out.</p>
<p>For how long he doesn’t know. He doesn’t even like basketball. There is nothing particularly interesting about watching a ball being thrown into a hoop.</p>
<p>And then,</p>
<p>
  <em>Here it comes.</em>
</p>
<p>He sits upright on the bench, eyes peeled open. Kai passes the ball to Soobin, but his aim is off, and it sails past him and lands outside of the court, rolling, rolling. Beomgyu stares at it as it comes to a halt right at his feet. Almost as if its course had been predestined.</p>
<p>He picks it up. They watch him, standing in a little group, it’s them versus him, and Beomgyu wants to throw the ball far away and make them get it themselves.</p>
<p>He walks towards them with the ball.</p>
<p>
  <em>Throw the ball.</em>
</p>
<p>He doesn’t want to, he is still ridiculously far away from the hoop, it’s practically impossible to score from there, and he will probably just embarrass himself because he is bad at basketball.</p>
<p>
  <em>Throw the ball.</em>
</p>
<p>He dribbles once. Thunk, it goes, and then he throws the ball, jumping, and he hopes he seems like he knows what he’s doing. It flies through the hoop. It’s effortless, it doesn’t even balance dangerously on the rim or hit the white metal plate, it just… falls in.</p>
<p>“Well, fuck,” he mumbles dumbly.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Things change pretty drastically after that. The class is quick to notice the newest addition in Choi Yeonjun’s friend group. Beomgyu tags along with them on trips to the arcade, the cinema, the convenience store, really, it seems like the four of them do everything together. Beomgyu can’t really imagine spending this much time with his classmates outside of school, but here he is, in the local skatepark, with his classmates.</p>
<p>He can’t skateboard. He hadn’t even particularly wanted to go, but when he’d overheard them talk, he’d asked if he could come with and they’d told him yes.</p>
<p>Now he's packed into protective gear, holding a skateboard and feeling like a fish out of water. The others are perfectly good at skateboarding, especially Yeonjun who zooms around the half-pipe, the board rotating in the air as he jumps. He's by the edge closest to Beomgyu, and Beomgyu wants to yell at him to do a flip, when the board slips. There’s a loud crash, and Yeonjun lands on the concrete, sliding down to the bottom of the half-pipe. They all hurry down towards him with worried expressions, huddling around him as if he's a fallen soldier.</p>
<p>“Are you okay?”, Beomgyu asks and his voice sounds so utterly concerned that he actually starts getting a little worried.</p>
<p>For himself that is, not Choi Yeonjun, who’s laughing it off, easily getting back on his feet.</p>
<p>They walk off, Beomgyu frowning at their retreating backs, when Taehyun turns around.</p>
<p>“Are you coming?”</p>
<p><em>No, I want to go home, </em>he thinks.</p>
<p>"Yeah!” he says.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>So things are not going well, as it turns out. Ryujin and Jeongin are angry at him for ditching them, and he wants to apologize and start hanging out with them again but he can’t. Something won’t allow him. <em>Something</em> is forcing him to hang out with Choi Yeonjun’s group, and it's quite scary. He also quickly learns that he doesn’t like Choi Yeonjun's group very much.</p>
<p>In fact, he kind of thinks they suck, but admittedly, his seeming lack of free will around them makes him very prone to be subjective.</p>
<p>After a particularly dreadful history class, he turns towards Taehyun, meaning to tell him he’s an asshole.</p>
<p>Just to test out if he can.</p>
<p>But maybe he also means it a little bit, because the two of them had walked to school together with Kai, and the sidewalk was too small for three people, so Beomgyu had trailed behind, feeling awkward. As it turns out, they often do this, all four of them, hence the less than friendly feelings he has developed towards them all.</p>
<p>An upbeat, “D’you wanna go to my place today?” is what comes out instead of "You're an asshole, Taehyun" and Beomgyu wants to scream. Taehyun blinks owlishly, which only fuels Beomgyu’s desire to punch something.</p>
<p>“Okay.” he says flatly.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Taehyun drags Kai along, and Beomgyu suspects it’s because he’s physically incapable of hanging out, just the two of them. Beomgyu can’t really fault him for that. He’s actually quite relieved - the prospect of him and Taehyun sitting in painfully awkward silence, studying or whatever the fuck they were going to do, had not been very promising.</p>
<p>They play Mario Kart on his Nintendo Switch.</p>
<p>“Get out of my way Yoshi,” he shouts, easily shoving the tiny dinosaur away with Bowser’s enormous car, and climbing to the number one spot. Kai shrieks in protest. His Yoshi is yellow, because he couldn’t have been normal and just chosen the green one.</p>
<p>“I’m gonna blueshield him.” Taehyun mumbles, and Kai and Beomgyu gasp, although Kai’s gasp is more from delight than the outraged sound escaping from Beomgyu’s throat.</p>
<p>“Don’t you dare,” he growls, his tongue betraying him before he can add a "you little piece of shit". Whatever is making him do things apparently cares a lot about being family-friendly, which he would've found funny if he wasn't so terrified of its weird powers.</p>
<p>Luigi launches the blue shield from where he’s mulling around between fourth and third place. It hits Bowser who spins around and around in circles, and yellow Yoshi zooms past him and crosses the finishing line. Kai cheers loudly, calls them losers and completely ignores how Beomgyu and Taehyun had won all the other rounds they’d played.</p>
<p><em>Dick,</em> Beomgyu thinks, but really, playing with them had almost been a little fun.</p>
<p>
  <em>Shove him.</em>
</p>
<p>He shoves Taehyun lightly, like how friends would do. He isn't sure how he feels about that. “Why did you let him win? He’ll never let this go,”</p>
<p>“Felt bad for him,” is the response.</p>
<p>“You let him.” Beomgyu says, sounding more like a statement than a question. “I was wondering why you suddenly fell behind.”</p>
<p>Taehyun nods, smiling a little at Kai who bounces giddily, and Beomgyu frowns, shifting a little.</p>
<p>“Oh. Okay.” he says blankly, but they aren’t his own words.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>It’s only when Beomgyu walks past a bookstore on his way home from school that it hits him, clear as lightning rippling through the sky.</p>
<p>He is a fictional character.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>He has taken to calling it the story - the thing that seems to be in control of his actions. It isn’t always that the story pushes him in a specific direction. Sometimes he can do whatever he wants, he learns this during a fight with Ryujin and Jeongin. They fight more often than not, about Beomgyu ditching them for someone else, and most of the time the story forces him to say things that makes him want to shove his fist in his mouth, but during this one particular fight he’d snapped, shoved Jeongin away from him while screaming that he wasn’t even real so it wasn’t like it fucking mattered.</p>
<p>They’d forgotten after that, Jeongin and Ryujin, and Beomgyu wanted to run into a brick wall at full speed.</p>
<p>He still hangs around Yeonjun, Soobin, Taehyun and Kai, and for every meeting Beomgyu increasingly dreads the next one. He can’t stand not getting to say what he wants - even if what he wants to say is sometimes pretty rude. He doesn’t feel guilty for wanting to tell Yeonjun to just shut the fuck up, he <em>shouldn't</em> feel guilty, it isn’t like he asked for this.</p>
<p>He does not <em>want</em> this. He is being forced against his will.</p>
<p>He does however feel pretty terrible when “Shut the fuck up” comes out as “Wow, you’re so cool, Yeonjun”. He nearly throws up in his mouth at that.</p>
<p><em>Damn, why does my character have to be such a suck-up? </em> he questions, to no avail.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Really, it isn’t that surprising. He should have seen it coming. Still, his mouth curls viciously, fists clenching when he learns that he isn’t the main character of the story.</p>
<p>The main character, or characters in plural, are Yeonjun, Soobin, Taehyun and Kai because of course they are.</p>
<p>He can’t even have that.</p>
<p>They are the center of the school, they are the center of the entire universe, and his life is practically dependent on them, he clings to their coattails, he wouldn’t have anything without them.</p>
<p>He hates them.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>The storyline keeps pushing him towards Taehyun and Kai, and it certainly isn’t the worst thing it could’ve done. They study together, play Mario Kart, go to the arcade, play basketball, play Mario Kart, study, play basketball in fact everything they do is kind of repetitive, Beomgyu realizes as Taehyun is explaining integrals to Kai.</p>
<p>He rolls his eyes. The creator of the story could’ve been a little more creative.</p>
<p>“Ah, I get it now!” Kai exclaims brightly. “Thanks Taehyunnie, you’re so smart,” he says in a way Beomgyu would’ve thought as cute if he wasn’t set on despising the guy, and he nearly chokes on his own spit when Taehyun flushes bright red, reaching up a hand to scratch the back of his neck.</p>
<p>“Oh, uh, it was nothing,” he mumbles staring into the table.</p>
<p><em>So that’s what you’re planning</em>, he thinks, looking back on all the time he’d spent with the pair. The hints had definitely been there, shy glances, subtle touches that lingered a bit too long, Taehyun’s sickeningly fond smiles, that time he’d let Kai win in Mario Kart.</p>
<p>Beomgyu barely gets to celebrate the fact that something is finally happening in the story - he thought he’d just be forced to go to the convenience store with the four of them forever, when something tries to force itself out of his mouth.</p>
<p>Oh no.</p>
<p>He clamps his mouth shut. Really, hanging out with Taehyun and Kai isn’t that awful most of the time, because most of the time he is somewhat in control. But sometimes the story will have him act a certain way. He guesses this is one of those times.</p>
<p>
  <em>Say it.</em>
</p>
<p>He does not want to say it. He is perfectly capable of understanding integrals, he’s doing really well in math for fucks sake.</p>
<p>
  <em>Say it.</em>
</p>
<p>He does not want to say it, he refuses.</p>
<p>“Can you help me too, Taehyun?” he asks through clenched teeth.</p>
<p>He almost gags. His tone is so sugary sweet, the corners of his lips pull up into an idiotic smile, it doesn’t sound like him at all.</p>
<p>“Sure,” Taehyun says. “What do you need help with?”</p>
<p>
  <em>I don’t need your fucking help, I want to be left alone.</em>
</p>
<p>“I don’t understand this one,” he points at an equation he already knows the answer to. Taehyun starts explaining, and Beomgyu curses his own existence and the creator and every single character in the story.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>He’s walking home from school in the rain (that seems to be all he ever does: being in school, walking to and from, and hanging out with his stupid friends at the same five locations), when he sees them. They’re sitting next to each other in a café, giggling over something.</p>
<p><em>Undoubtedly something moronic</em>, Beomgyu thinks.</p>
<p>Faces leaned in close, shoulders touching, they’re laughing, and suddenly they aren’t anymore. They’re just sitting completely still, staring at each other, and Beomgyu wants to leave and go on his merry way, but finds himself rooted to the spot, standing frozen in pouring rain. He is physically unable to look away as they start leaning in, eyes fluttering closed.</p>
<p>Taehyun and Kai are kissing in slow motion. It is like taken out of a drama, the most cheesy moment Beomgyu has ever had the displeasure of witnessing.</p>
<p>Rain trickles through his shirt, and he thinks he might catch hypothermia if he doesn’t get inside right this minute, or if he’d at least had the sense to bring the umbrella he usually carries in his schoolbag. Of course he doesn't have it now, when he actually needs it.</p>
<p>The creator insists on constantly making a fool out of him, he has long realized.</p>
<p>They pull apart, and Taehyun does the neck thing again, where he awkwardly refuses to meet Kai’s eyes, merely scratches the back of his neck. Kai brings a hand to his face, lifting his chin and they just sit and stare into each others' eyes. Again.</p>
<p>
  <em>Good for them… or something.</em>
</p>
<p>On-page Beomgyu, as Beomgyu has decided to dub this other, lamer part of him does not seem to share his sentiment.</p>
<p>“No…” he says, it comes out as a broken sob, and <em>when the fuck had he started crying?</em> Beomgyu is literally standing in the rain, sobbing buckets in front of a café window, probably catching hypothermia, and he doesn't think he can possibly get more pathetic if he tried.</p>
<p>There’s a sinking feeling in his chest, settling in his stomach like a stone.</p>
<p>This is not good.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>“I’m in a fucking love triangle,” he deadpans, upon getting back home. He doesn’t need to change out of his clothes, seeing as it has miraculously dried by itself. And it’s not even an intriguing love triangle. It’s one of those in dramas, where it’s already obvious who gets chosen, where the other person is some lost cause who’s doomed to hopelessly pine after the lead.</p>
<p>God this is so fucking dumb.</p>
<p>He leans his head back to look up at the ceiling, which is just a black hole because the creator hasn’t bothered to draw it all out. “I do <em>not</em> like Kang Taehyun! I think he’s a dumb little shit!” he shouts.</p>
<p>There’s no response. No voice of God speaking down to him. He bets the creator’s voice is annoying and condescending. “I hate him and I hate you!”</p>
<p>He directs a middle finger up at the black hole. “FUCK YOU!” he screams with all the power he can muster. “AT LEAST DRAW MY FUCKING CEILING, YOU DICKWAD!”</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Because Beomgyu’s life apparently revolves around Taehyun now, the story forces him up on the school’s rooftop with the other boy. Spending time with the others, especially when it’s just Taehyun and Kai has increasingly become more and more dreadful ever since he’d witnessed the pair kissing in the café. He is less and less in control of what he says and does, sometimes everything he says is just <em>wrong</em>, and he knows what will happen now because they're standing on a fucking rooftop of all places.</p>
<p>He is going to fight tooth and nail to prevent it.</p>
<p>“What did you want to tell me?” Taehyun asks, looking annoyingly superior to him, and Beomgyu briefly considers just pushing him off the roof. He’s sure nothing would happen if he tried.</p>
<p>“I… I, um,” he stutters. The words are nervous, his tone is mousy and quivering, but all he feels is spite.</p>
<p>
  <em>Say it.</em>
</p>
<p>“Taehyun, I-” he eats the words, traps them in his throat, bites his tongue until he tastes metal. Taehyun frowns, looking confused.</p>
<p>“Taehyun, I know-”</p>
<p>
  <em>Say it.</em>
</p>
<p>He is not going to say it, and no damn story is going to control his actions, especially not a cliché, lazy one as this.</p>
<p>“You know…?” Taehyun asks, prompting him to continue, and on-page Beomgyu obeys.</p>
<p>On-page Beomgyu is a little bitch.</p>
<p>“I know you won’t accept my confession, but I like you.” he says, words fighting their way out of his mouth and landing on a messy pile at Taehyun's feet. The frustrated outburst at his failure is forced back down his throat. Beomgyu wants to slap himself. He can’t, of course.</p>
<p>“I like you so much it hurts sometimes.”</p>
<p><em>Okay, tone down the dramatics,</em> he thinks.</p>
<p>Tears pool up in his eyes, on-page Beomgyu knows Taehyun is already in love with someone else, it’s tragic and so utterly dumb, but Beomgyu doesn’t fight them. He kind of wants to cry too, a little bit.</p>
<p>“Oh.” Taehyun says, and Beomgyu hates the pity in his voice. “I’m… sorry Beomgyu. I don’t like you that way.”</p>
<p>“I know.”</p>
<p>Resignation. For the first time Beomgyu’s real emotions line up with his character’s.</p>
<p>“I just wanted you to know. Bye Taehyun.”</p>
<p>He sounds absolutely dejected and miserable. <em>Was that all?</em> he wants to scream.</p>
<p>Taehyun is silent, continues watching him with that pitiful gaze. Beomgyu’s feet drag him towards the door first, steps heavy, and he suspects that perhaps this is the most tragic day in his life. Not only has he failed at trying to prevent on-screen Beomgyu from confessing, the entire rejection scene is probably eight or so panels at most. That is all he is given.</p>
<p>He opens the door, slowly, and steps into the darkness of the staircase, closing the door softly behind him. He starts descending the stairs as his jaw unclenches. He is <em>free</em> again (or as free as he can be), and he wipes the tears from his cheeks, stops walking to stare down at his feet.</p>
<p>That is all he is given. That is all he will ever be given as a useless side character.</p>
<p>He clenches his hands, nails digging into his skin, until they break through. “Fuck that,” he forces out through gritted teeth, as a new surge of determination rolls through him.</p>
<p>He is not accepting such a half-assed rejection. He is not going down without a fight.</p>
<p>Spinning around and stomping furiously up the stairs, he slams the door open, with all the care of someone who knows any damage done will automatically fix itself later. Taehyun jumps a little.</p>
<p>“You know what, you little shit,” Beomgyu spits, stepping up and jabbing a finger into Taehyun’s chest. Taehyun stares at him in alarm, his already big manga-eyes getting even bigger.</p>
<p>“I <em>don’t</em> like you, bastard.”</p>
<p>“But you just said-”</p>
<p>“I don’t care what I just said. That wasn’t <em>me</em>, that was… that was my <em>character,”</em></p>
<p>He might as well just load it all onto Taehyun, the fucker could give him that much after rejecting him in less than two minutes.</p>
<p>“I don’t understand-” Taehyun says, flinching when Beomgyu interrupts him.</p>
<p>“I’m not real! You’re not real, none of this is real!” He grips Taehyun by the shoulders and shakes him violently. “We’re all fucking characters in some fucking manga or webtoon or some fucking shit like that!”</p>
<p>“Um wow, you just dropped the f-bomb three times in one sentence,” Taehyun says, prying Beomgyu’s hands off of him.</p>
<p>“Fuck you! Fuck you Kang Taehyun, and <em>fuck</em> your friends.”</p>
<p>Taehyun blinks.</p>
<p>“I never wanted to be friends with you okay? I was forced, the story made me befriend you! Free will is a myth, it isn’t real, have you ever thought about what the ceiling in your room looks like?”</p>
<p>“...What?”</p>
<p>“The ceiling, dipshit, the ceiling!” he shouts, and he doesn’t think Taehyun has ever looked so out of sorts before. There's a small satisfaction in that - knowing that's an expression he'll never make on-page, no other character or reader will ever see him be this tremendously confused. It is also incredibly frustrating.</p>
<p>“I…" Taehyun starts. "My ceiling looks fine, it’s white and-”</p>
<p>“Of fucking course it looks fine, you’re a main character.” Beomgyu grumbles bitterly, stepping back a little. Every little detail about his room is probably sketched out, no odd gaps or tears in the universe like there are in Beomgyu’s room.</p>
<p>“Is your ceiling not... uh...” Taehyun says, trailing off, not seeming to know how to continue the sentence. Beomgyu rolls his eyes.</p>
<p>“It’s a <em>hole</em>, Taehyun, a <em>black hole!”</em></p>
<p>“Oh. I’m sorry about that.”</p>
<p>“You better fucking be. My life is miserable because of you and your main character friends.”</p>
<p>Taehyun looks like he wants to apologize again, so Beomgyu cuts in.</p>
<p>“Do you remember how you got up here? <em>Do you?”</em> he is unhinged, gesturing wildly with his arms.</p>
<p>“The stairs?” Taehyun says, before frowning. “At least I think I used the stairs…”</p>
<p>“No! No you didn’t! Suddenly you were just standing here!”</p>
<p>Taehyun looks thoughtful, tapping his chin.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I guess so.” he muses.</p>
<p>Beomgyu gapes at him in disbelief. He seizes him by the collar of his dumb school uniform and shakes him again. “Why the fuck are you so calm, you utter piece of crap? Everything is predetermined by some motherfucker who doesn’t have an ounce of originality!” Beomgyu bursts, before shoving Taehyun away. He stumbles a little, but remains on his feet. “You fucking tool. Main character my ass.”</p>
<p>“Okay, okay, you don’t have to insult me anymore, I get it.” Taehyun mumbles, adjusting his tie while sounding a little hurt.</p>
<p>He most definitely does not get it, Beomgyu is certain.</p>
<p>“You better remember this.” Beomgyu threatens, pointing a finger between Taehyun’s eyes. Taehyun’s frown gets deeper if possible, as he gently pushes Beomgyu’s finger back down with the palm of his hand.</p>
<p>“Beomgyu," he says calmly. "You just confessed your feelings to me and then proceeded to insult me and scream in my face about how everything is fake. I think I’ll remember.”</p>
<p>Beomgyu rolls his eyes.</p>
<p>“You better fucking remember.” he says. “Fucker.” he adds, for good measure, because Taehyun won’t remember any of this, and if he wasn’t so irritated he might’ve been sad about it. He’d spent so much energy trying to explain.</p>
<p>“Okay, okay,” Taehyun assures him. "I won't, I promise, <em>God." </em></p>
<p>Beomgyu thinks about the creator, how they’re probably cackling to themselves as they plan out his miserable storyline. Worm his way into the main characters’ friend group, fall in love with one of them, watch him make out with another main character in the pouring rain, and finally be rejected on a rooftop. Next thing they’ll probably ditch him and he’ll be all alone, because he’d left his original friends behind for a glimpse of popularity.</p>
<p>God is a sick sadist and clearly hates his guts.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Taehyun does not remember.</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>They drop him shortly after that, Yeonjun, Soobin, Taehyun and Kai. Not that he’d ever been part of the group. Not really. He’d always been on the outskirts, watching, as if he’d never left the bench by the basketball court at all. He can’t say he’s surprised. He is however pretty pissed.</p>
<p>It’s ass o’clock at night, and they’re riding on their bicycles. It’s pretty obvious they’re trying to get rid of him because they always stay several feet ahead. The fact that his legs refuse to speed up when he tells them to, certainly doesn’t help.</p>
<p>They’re biking through a long tunnel, and he follows them, groaning in annoyance when he sees it: there’s a rock, conveniently placed in the middle of the road. In it, his fate flashes before his eyes. For some reason he’s wearing glasses tonight, and he thinks <em>This is it. The traumatizing moment where I fall and break my glasses like a nerd and they’re gonna laugh at me, and then they’ll get rid of me and I’ll mysteriously disappear from the story, never to appear ever again.</em></p>
<p>He can’t swerve around the stone, can only dread the moment of impact as he clenches his fists around the steering wheel.</p>
<p>There’s a loud crash that echoes through the tunnel as he lands on his shoulder, and he is briefly reminded of the time Yeonjun had fallen in the skatepark and everyone had flocked around him like pigeons.</p>
<p>No one comes to Beomgyu’s rescue. They just stop and stare back at him, it’s them versus him, it has always been.</p>
<p>And he envies them. They think they’re the coolest kids in school, they think everyone likes them, they don’t know. They don’t know that they don’t have a choice. They don’t know that none of them exist outside of the story. They don't know that they are all fabricated by someone who clearly doesn't give a fuck about anyone but them. He could tell them, but they’d only forget, like Ryujin and Jeongin had, like Taehyun had.</p>
<p><em>Taehyun promised he'd remember</em> a naive voice says, the part of him that had hoped Taehyun would somehow remember everything and be on his side.</p>
<p>But Taehyun is standing on a row with the others, a blank expression on his perfectly handsome face, and it's all so obvious he's surprised he is the only one who has realized. They are untouchable, they are glowing, and there is a thick line between them and everyone else.</p>
<p><em>The fuck are you standing around for, assholes,</em> he thinks, when they just continue staring at him over their shoulders.</p>
<p>He wants to hurl the rock at them.</p>
<p>Instead he gets to his feet, blinking, with a thousand miles separating them. After a long minute, Yeonjun nods towards the other end of the tunnel, and they bike away from him, wheels creaking.</p>
<p>Pretty rude, actually.</p>
<p>On-page Beomgyu is replaced by off-page Beomgyu in a snap.</p>
<p>“You-!” he starts loudly, before sighing, listening to the walls of the tunnel throw the word back and forth like ping pong before finally fading out. “Ugh, whatever.”</p>
<p>He swallows the insults that rest on his tongue. What is the point?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At least he’ll finally be rid of them.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>[cackles in author]<br/>anyway, i love txt and i don't think any of them are assholes and whatever else i made beomgyu call them in this lmao, we all know txt love each other very much!!! </p>
<p>last joke before i let you and fictional beomgyu off the hook: the title is from Tomorrow which is from Annie the musical, specifically it's the part where she goes "i love ya, tomorrow, you're always a day away", the joke is that beomgyu's tomorrow is forever a day away bc he'll never escape the hellhole that is fiction hahAha . [drums]</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/hyukaang">twt</a> // <a href="https://curiouscat.qa/yeonbun">cc</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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